Facebook caves in to Canada …
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- “Facebook on Thursday unveiled an updated version of its privacy policy – changes that were made, in part, to appease Canadian privacy officials.”
That’s PC Magazine today.
“Facebook offers up privacy policy for user review. After earlier brouhaha over changes to terms-of-use policy, site now seeks user input” – Computerworld, today.
“Facebook spells out updated privacy policy” – CNet News, today.
Will Facebook thumb its nose at Canada? – p2pnet, yesterday.
Available for your review
According to the Fa$ebook blog »»»
Starting today, Facebook’s privacy policy is at and comment. This is the next step in our ongoing effort to run Facebook in an open and transparent way.
Changes are indeed being wrought. But paradoxically, many of them — the bulk? – came about only after users organised Facebook groups to protest actions taken, or not taken, by the company with respect to user privacy in one form or another.
Because the truth is: transparency has been one of Facebook’s least visible policies. Every change made in this direction has been forced upon it.
With Mark Zuckerberg (right) in the driving seat, Fa$sebook has had more updates than a dog has fleas and it seems a constant battle between its users and company policies about what it can, can’t and shouldn’t do with user data.
Fast and loose with user information
It’s a strange fish. It’s a privately owned commercial company and it has to make a living. No one begrudges that. But left to its own devices, it’d still be playing fast and loose with user information.
“Late last week, a federal judge in California gave preliminary approval to a settlement of the class action lawsuit regarding Facebook’s Beacon program,” says ReadWriteWeb, continuing:
“The controversial program, launched back in November of 2007, allowed ['forced' would be a better word] Facebook users to share online purchases made on third-party affiliate websites with their social networking friends. The problem with the program was that it was opt-out instead of opt-in, angering many Facebook users who unknowingly shared information they wished they wouldn’t have.”
The other major part to the Facebook settlement is the termination of Facebook’s Beacon program.
“Although Facebook had quickly reacted to the Beacon outcry after its launch, changing the system over to opt-in and even issuing a formal apology, the program still exists today,” says the story. ” (You can check your settings by going to Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Applications -> Settings tab. Then scroll down to the bottom to see if “Beacon websites” is checked or unchecked. Checked will ensure no Beacon stories get posted to your profile).”
If the proposed settlement goes through, “Facebook would then be relieved from liability from any future lawsuits regarding the same complaint and even those still pending,” such as last year’s Facebook-Blockbuster class action suit.
But, “Settlement Sounds Great … Especially for Facebook,” is a subhead to the ReadWriteWeb post, which adds »»»
On the surface, the proposed settlement sounds fair enough to all parties involved. Damages are paid and Facebook has to promote online privacy.
However, as David Johnson points out on the Digital Media Lawyer Blog, Facebook is already required by law to promote online privacy and the safety and security of its users’ information per FTC mandates. In addition, Facebook would get to nominate one and have say over the other two board members on the proposed Privacy Foundation’s board of directors.
Says Johnson: “Facebook effectively gets most of its money back to fund projects that it is already has an obligation to perform.”
Sounds like the real winner here may be Facebook.
Delay and prevaricate
Yesterday, “Fa$ebook is no different from any other company which pulls its money from online advertising,” said p2pnet. “If it’s told to straighten up its act for any reason, it’ll endlessly delay and prevaricate, dragging things out to the absolute last moment before it complies, and even then, it’ll beg for more time. And it’ll get it.
“Meanwhile, the problems behind the complaints which inspired the order in the first place continue. Now, ‘the office of Canada’s privacy commissioner says Facebook has yet to address some of her concerns about what happens to profiles of users who die’ … ”
Only days were left for Fa$ebook to respond.
Elliot Schrage is vice president of Facebook’s global communications and public affairs and his statement, including the excerpt quoted above, on the company’s blog was its answer.
Now, “Facebook has updated its privacy policy, with some changes based on recommendations filed by Canada’s privacy commissioner,” says the Winnipeg Free Press, adding:
“Users are being given seven days to comment on the new policy document, which weighs in at more than 5,000 words. In the policy, Facebook says it will not share users’ personal information with advertisers without consent.
But it, “may display ads on a user’s profile based on ‘anonymized’ information users willingly share.
“Facebook is also elaborating more on the differences between deactivating and deleting an account, and what happens to an account after a user has died, which were issues raised by privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart.”
Below is Fa$ebook’s statement in full
Elliot Schrage Yesterday at 12:24
Starting today, Facebook’s privacy policy is available for your review and comment. This is the next step in our ongoing effort to run Facebook in an open and transparent way. In April, we launched a new system of governance for the Facebook site and became the first company to our knowledge that invites users to both comment and vote on proposed changes to its governing policies.
At the time, we also introduced a new policy document — our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This document avoids the legal jargon that most sites typically put in their “terms of service.” It articulates the mutual relationship and shared obligations between Facebook and its users as clearly and plainly as possible. We received excellent feedback from many of you over the course of a two-week comment period.
We now are doing the same with our privacy policy. Our primary goals remain transparency and readability, which is why we’ve used plain language and included numerous examples to help illustrate our points. For example, here is how we explain users’ options for modifying or deleting information or content in the current privacy policy on the site:
When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information. …
… Even after removal, copies of User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other Users have copied or stored your User
Content. …
Access and control over most personal information on Facebook is readily available through the profile editing tools. Facebook users may modify or delete any of their profile information at any time by logging into their account. Information will be updated immediately. Individuals who wish to deactivate their Facebook account may do so on the My Account page. Removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time but will not be generally available to members of Facebook.
Here is the clearer and more comprehensive version from the new proposed policy:
Viewing and editing your profile. You may change or delete your profile information at any time by going to your profile page and clicking “Edit My Profile.” Information will be updated immediately. While you cannot delete your date of birth, you can use the setting on the info tab of your profile information page to hide all or part of it from other users. …
Deactivating or deleting your account. If you want to stop using your account you may deactivate it or delete it. When you deactivate an account, no user will be able to see it, but it will not be deleted. We save your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc.) in case you later decide to reactivate your account. Many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and in doing so are asking us to maintain their information until they return to Facebook. You will still have the ability to reactivate your account and restore your profile in its entirety. When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted. You should only delete your account if you are certain you never want to reactivate it. You may deactivate your account on your account settings page or delete your account on this help page.
Limitations on removal. Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users. However, your name will no longer be associated with that information on Facebook. (For example, if you post something to another user’s profile, and then you delete your account, that post may remain, but be attributed to an “Anonymous Facebook User.”) Additionally, we may retain certain information to prevent identity theft and other misconduct even if deletion has been requested.
Backup copies. Removed and deleted information may persist in backup copies for up to 90 days, but will not be available to others.
We also have restructured the document — providing key points and easy links to jump to the different sections. We’ve added sections further explaining our current practices and introducing a new concept around Facebook Ads that we hope you’ll take the time to review.
Clarification of Current Practices
In this revision, we’re fulfilling our commitment to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to update our privacy policy to better describe a number of practices. Specifically, we’ve included sections that further explain the privacy setting you can choose to make your content viewable by everyone, the difference between deactivating and deleting your account and the process of memorializing an account once we’ve received a report that the account holder is deceased.
We also have explained in greater detail how Social Ads work on Facebook. Social Ads are sponsored promotions that include relevant information about you and are shown only to your friends. For example, if you become a fan of a Page for your favorite new movie, your friends may see an ad that includes that information.
Advertising on Facebook
Over 300 million people around the world now use Facebook. More join every day. To support this growth and continue providing a free service that connects people and lets them share with whomever they choose, we’ve built a business that allows advertisers to selectively share their messages. Our goal is to make the ads you see on Facebook relevant and interesting. Period. We’re constantly working to improve our systems to make sponsored material compatible with people’s needs and curiosity.
As we do this, we remain committed to protecting your privacy. The information we provide to advertisers is “anonymized,” meaning that it can’t be traced back to you as an individual in any way. For example, we won’t tell an advertiser that you clicked on an ad, but we might report that, of the 100 people who clicked on the ad, 63 percent were female.
Improving the Quality of Facebook’s Ads
In this update, we also have explained how we might use information from other sites to improve the quality of our ads. This information allows advertisers to do what is commonly called “conversion tracking,” which helps them measure the effectiveness of their ads and make them more relevant. Most advertisers already do this in other places on the web. Should Facebook provide this, we’ll continue to respect your privacy by not sharing your information with advertisers, and we’ll anonymize any information we receive.
In the past, we’ve provided a redline version of the new policy document we’re proposing to make clear what’s new. Unfortunately, in this case, the revision is so different from the current policy that this wasn’t possible. You can read the proposed update in its entirety and post comments to the Facebook Site Governance Page before the comment period ends at 12:00 p.m. PST on November 5. After the comment period is over, we’ll review your feedback and update you on our next steps. We appreciate and strongly encourage your participation in this process.
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
ReadWriteWeb – Facebook Settlement Gets Judge’s OK, October 26, 2009
Facebook-Blockbuster – Blockbuster sued over Facebook Beacon, April 17, 2009
p2pnet – Will Facebook thumb its nose at Canada? October 29, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press – Facebook updates privacy policy, based in part on Canadian commissioner’s report, October 29, 2009
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